You Are Accepted
February 22nd, 2009 • Posted in Messages/Sermons • 955 viewsLuke Lesson 14 (2009)
YOU ARE ACCEPTED
(The healing of a man with leprosy)
Luke 5:12-16
Key Verse: 5:13
“Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man, ‘I am willing’, he said. ‘Be clean!’ And immediately the leprosy left him.”
This morning, let us turn to the person right next to us and welcome one another by shaking hands and saying, “You are accepted !” How do you feel when you are accepted? Do you have anyone whom you could not or cannot accept? If you do, do you know why? Have you ever felt rejected by someone or by a certain group of people? How did you feel when you were not welcomed? You feel deeply hurt. Most people try hard to be accepted by others. But it’s not always easy. Because of this, some people may say, “Well, who cares? I don’t need to be accepted by anybody” and they live in isolation. Yet, the real problem is that they cannot accept themselves either. It’s surprising to see that in today’s passage Jesus the Holy Son of God accepted the man whom almost everyone in the world rejected because of his leprosy. Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man and said, “I am willing. Be clean!” Let’s think about why Jesus touched the man and what he meant when he said, “I am willing. Be clean !”
Look at verse 12. “While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, ‘Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.’” Unlike in ancient times, leprosy is a rare and unfamiliar disease now, especially in the US. Leprosy is an infectious and incurable disease, caused by bacteria called Mycobacterium leprae that affects the skin, mucous membranes, bones, nerves and whole body. The earliest symptom of the disease is the loss of sensation. Large areas of the skin may become decayed due to severe infection. This decay can also cause disfiguration and the loss of the nose, eyes, fingers and toes. In Jesus’ time lepers usually lived in isolation, confined in a leper’s colony, separated from their family members and loved ones until they died. These days, leprosy is curable. But not in ancient times. If you were diagnosed to be positive back then, it meant you were cursed and sentenced to death, living the rest of your life in suffering, endless pain and isolation.
About 10 years ago, in a Dallas movie theater, a woman sat on something sharp in one of the seats. When she stooped to see what it was, a needle was found poking through the seat with an attached note saying, “Welcome to the world of AIDS. You have been infected with HIV.” This woman’s life was destroyed. The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta Georgia reported similar events that have taken place in several other cities recently. All of the needles tested have been positive for HIV. This is scary. But the spiritual reality is that all of us tested positive for the worst kind of virus, which is sin. Like leprosy, sin makes us unclean. Once we are contaminated by sin, we are spiritually desensitized, and our mind, body and soul are progressively affected. Sin separates us from God, breaks our relationship with others and disconnects us from our loved ones and even from ourselves. Generally, some people think that sin is just moral failure or unacceptable behavioral patterns in our lives. But sin is much more fundamental than those things. Sin is a spiritual virus. So when we say that I am a sinful man, it means I am a carrier of the sin-virus.
We don’t know how this man with leprosy got the disease. The sickness took away the man’s dignity of life, meaning, hopes and dreams. Both Matthew and Mark said that he was a man with leprosy instead of saying that he was a leper, emphasizing the fact that he was a human who happened to have leprosy. Luke was a medical doctor, unlike Matthew and Mark, and he described this man as “a man covered with leprosy”, meaning that this man’s case was advanced. Perhaps this man was very near death.
Yet, this man came to see Jesus. Perhaps, he had heard of all the wonderful healing that Jesus had done. When he heard about the power and authority of Jesus’ teaching and that he gave orders to evil spirits to come out, hope sprang up in his heart. It was a courageous move that he snuck out of the leper’s colony in order to come to Jesus, risking the danger of death by people’s stoning. We might call it an act of faith.
Look at verse 12b. “When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, ‘Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.’” According to what he said, this man was sure that Jesus had the ability to heal his deadly disease. Yet, he was not sure if Jesus was willing to heal him. The way this man approached Jesus was very humble and earnest€, acknowledging that he was totally unworthy of what he was asking for. He fell with his face to the ground, like the way Simon fell at Jesus’ feet after experiencing the miraculous catch of a great number of fish. (5:8) But unlike Simon who said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man”, the man said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean” meaning “Lord, please, don’t go away from me even though I am unclean. Please, cleanse me!” His humble cry reminds us of Frances J. Crosby’s hymn, “Pass me not, O Gentle Savior. Hear my humble cry. While on others Thou art calling, do not pass me by. Savior, Savior, Hear my humble cry. While on others Thou art calling, do not pass me by.”
How did Jesus treat the man with leprosy? Look at verse 13. “Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be Clean!’ And immediately the leprosy left him.” Even though this man was ugly looking and his faith might not have been perfect, Jesus blessed man’s faith. Jesus didn’t have to touch the man because it’s highly contagious. He could’ve healed the man simply by saying “Don’t come too close to me. Be clean.” Here, we see not only Jesus’ power and authority but also his compassion for the man with leprosy. Jesus didn’t have to touch the man. At that time, touching a man with leprosy was forbidden and unthinkable. When everyone in society had rejected and ignored this man and kept their distance from him because he had leprosy, Jesus reached out his hand and touched this ugly and disgusting looking man. Even though Jesus was the Holy Son of God, he was still a man who had flesh and blood. It was possible that he could become infected with leprosy. But Jesus could not ignore this man. Jesus could not turn this man away. Why not? It’s because Jesus had compassion for him. When Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man, he looked the man in the eye and said, “I am willing. Be clean !”
Jesus not only loved the man but also fully accepted him just as he was. A while ago, my wife whom I have been married with for nearly 30 years asked me, “Dear, what is your definition of love?” When she asked that kind of question, I knew it means something totally unexpected. So I tried to answer very carefully based on 1 Corinthians 13, “Love is patient, love is kind, love is humble… love never fails.” She was not fully satisfied with my answer. So I asked her, “What is your definition of love?” She didn’t want to tell me. But when I insisted, she said, “Love is acceptance.” I agreed with her and said, “Wow! I was going to say that…” You cannot say that you truly love someone when you cannot accept the person, who he or she is. True love starts with acceptance.
What happened after Jesus touched the man with leprosy? When Jesus said, “Be clean !” immediately the leprosy that made him unclean left him. Now this man could have a new life. This cleansing is symbolic of how Jesus cleanses us from sin when we come to him believing he is our Savior who died for our sins and rose from the dead. We become clean, washed by the blood of Jesus Christ, not by our work. Jesus said that a person who has had a bath in Jesus needs only to wash his feet because his whole body is clean. (Jn 13:10) No matter how sinful we may be, we are washed and cleansed in the blood of Jesus Christ. We are fully accepted into God’s kingdom as His loving children.
It’s totally unthinkable for any human mind or any religious people that the Holy God would welcome and fully accept unclean and wretched sinners like the man with leprosy as His own children simply based on His mercy. Yet, that’s what Jesus demonstrated in this event. And that’s what the good news of the kingdom of God is all about. Salvation is not by works but by God’s grace. It’s marvelous grace! Grace that is greater than all our sins. This man who used to be covered with leprosy was now covered instead by the surpassing grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Here, we see sin and grace living in us at the same time. As long as we live in our flesh and in this fallen world, we still cannot avoid sinning because we still carry the virus of sin in us. That’s our agony and frustration. Yet, we also have the grace of God that is greater than all our sins. Romans 5:18-21 reads, “Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign reigned through the righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Through the grace of God in Jesus who suffered and died for our sins, shedding his precious blood, all we sinners who should have been condemned are fully accepted to the kingdom of God, cleansed and considered righteous before God. This is good news of the kingdom of God. I am forgiven and fully accepted by God because of the grace of Jesus Christ who died and rose again. It’s an amazing love that I am fully accepted by God as His child just as I am. Praise and thank God for His marvelous grace, grace that is greater than all our sins and reigns in us.
But why do we have so many problems even among believers? In some sense, it’s because we have an acceptance problem. Many people do not accept one another because of small differences. However, when we understand and accept the grace of God that is far greater than our sins, we can accept ourselves and others. We can also be reminded of the importance of acceptance of the differences of others who have also been accepted by God. When Gentile members began to grow in the early church, a lot of conflicts began to arise within the church community due to different ethnicity and cultures even though they all believed in the same gospel. So Paul had to explain the difference between the gospel and Jewish religion and say over and over in his letter to accept one another. Romans 14:1-3 reads, “Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. I am forgiven and fully accepted by God because of the grace of Jesus Christ who died and rose again. It’s an amazing love that I am fully accepted by God as His child just as I am. One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything mus not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him.” (Romans 14:1-3) He also said in Romans 15:7, “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.”
Look at verse 14. “Then Jesus ordered him, ‘Don’t tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.’” It would take several days for the man to offer sacrifices in the Temple in Jerusalem and his social life would be restored. But it seems that Jesus sent him with a mission to the priests in Jerusalem. His offering the sacrifices would be a message to the religious leaders that the Messiah had come and was working among them. We don’t know exactly why Jesus didn’t want him to tell anyone about what happened to him on his way to Jerusalem. It’s probably because of possible disturbance for this man and for his ministry.
Look at verses 15 and 16. “Yet, the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” In fact, the news about the man who had been healed from leprosy continued to boost the popularity of Jesus among the people. Yet, Jesus didn’t depend on this popularity in doing his ministry. Instead, he depended on God the Father through his intimate fellowship with Him in his prayer.
So many people say, “I hate myself” or “I don’t like myself.” A person who cannot accept himself has no peace or happiness. No one can force us to accept ourselves and it is not easy to do so. But when we feel that we have been fully accepted by God the Father who is greater than us, there comes a time when we can accept ourselves just as we are. And our self is reunited with itself, and we can also accept and respect others and live in harmony and love. As long as we live in this world, we will never be perfect. But we can still experience the kingdom of God within our limitations. God’s grace is always sufficient for us. Have you been touched by the healing hand of Jesus? If you haven’t, come to him now just as you are and let him touch you. He is willing. Those who have been touched, let him continue to touch you and heal you whole. Jesus says, “I am willing” he said, “be clean!”
